Nirvana
by prettilitTLepoison
Summary: An individual star can be so infinitely far away from its neighbor, but still shine as brightly. He decided to shine no matter what, or who would be in his way.
1. The Past

Long strands of dark brown hair fall across his shoulders, two stray strands on the sides of his face. The moon hit his skin like a delicate lover, his eyes dark despite the glow. He mumbles something in a contemplative manner, now not so much talking to himself, but really just thinking so hard his thoughts spill over his lips.

This boy, now barely reaching adulthood, is Dib, and he's not thinking about much.

It's what he always thinks about.

Just not in the same way anymore.

And that suits him fine.

No more alone that he ever was, but never lonely. He always will have that one defining moment, the one that really changed everything. He has the mystery of the sky above him. These two things keep him together, chaos and a loose sense of something never changing.

An individual star can be so infinitely far away from its neighbor, but still shine as brightly. He decided to shine no matter what, or who would be in his way.

To the last moment, the only constant thing his vision could make out were those eyes.

They haunt him, and they keep him alive.

They dot every star in the sky, from the moon, to the sun, to every blade of grass and every subtle movement in the atmosphere.

It wasn't going to be too much longer.

His breathing is now soft and shallow, his body curling and tightening.

The world pulsated and glowed around him, and he knew it wasn't the moon.

His pupils widened under the darkness of his dark purple overcoat, with the black corset like backing.

Under his breath, one word echoed and trembled throughout his whole entire being.

_Zim_


	2. The Future

(A/n: This story has one more chapter to go. This chapter is before the first one, a memory of a few years back. Its limited to what happens afterward for a reason. Unfortunately, that's up to you to decide.)

* * *

All was quiet in the classroom. Zim was rapping his fingers against his hard desk, perhaps in thought. A few students were passing a note around.

There was a giggle. Another one.

Zim let out a dramatic sigh. The students looked his way. Zim motioned them to pass the note to him.

Smiling, one of the girls tossed it over.

Zim caught it and opened it up. There was a crudely drawn picture on it of Dib getting torn apart by a grosteque creature, innards and guts flown everywhere. In a bubble above Dib, it said, "I told you aliens exiiiisss-arrghh!" A little note was above the picture: _Zim, if ur really an alien like the crazy guy says u r, better show yourself, we all want to see the show! _And then, to top it all off, there were colorful HAHAHA's written all over it.

Zim, disgusted and slightly offended, tossed the note across the room.

"See the show?" Zim exclaimed, his eyes lighting up like a line of little grenades. _'How perfect, they even set it up for me.'_ Zim thought, images and grandiose thoughts of the future tingled down his spine almost violently.

His finger pointed in the air. "See the SHOW!" Zim let out a string of manic, jumpy giggles. He jumped up and ignored the protests of the professor.

"Foolish HUMANS! Your ignorance is only _to _beautiful! Now," Zim bellowed, his left hand twitching in excitement as he stood in front of the class. "Now is the time." He said, almost to himself, his eye winking at the class.

One of the girls yawned. "Is this a joke? Its not even funny."

"Yeah, well, except for his laugh. Its weird." Another kid pointed out. A pair of dark hair, light eyed twins in the class tittered simultaneously at the comment.

"I think that's _way _creepier." Zita said somberly, pointing at the twins, her eyes tired and soft.

Dib, in a semi deep slumber, jumped up at the noise. He wiped his eyes and saw Zim towering in front of the classroom.

"Ah, no joke." Wig came off.

Bug-like antennas quirked up.

Gasps and cut off screams, cut off by their palms.

Contacts peeled off. The eyes that once had a strange beauty wore a scarring darkness. Glaring crimson eyes peered menacingly at the classmates. Silence fell upon the pale faced humans.

Dib was flabbergasted, disbelieving of this dramatic and spontaneous display. He was stuck to his chair, a look of complete shock, as though he was dumped in gasoline then shot instead of being lit on fire.

Tick. Tick. Tick.

"WHY ARE WE STILL SITTING HERE?! HE'S A MONSTER! RUN! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!" A usually very quiet girl, named Candace, screamed brutally, knocking over several desks as she stumbled out of the large classroom of Dib's environmental science class.

"YES! TELL EVERYONE! TELL THEM ALL THIS IS THE DAY YOU WILL ALL DIE!" Zim said with a scream of laughter.

All the while Dib sat there in a horrible daze.

Zim took out two long blades, twirling around and slicing the professor's throat. Then looking at the other students who were still glued to their seat in terror, as the professor was choking and twitching in his own blood, he muttered something in distaste.

"You pathetic humans! DIB!"

Dib looked up slightly at Zim, anger and confusion in his eyes.

"Catch me if you can. It won't be much longer. Get a MOVE on!" Zim growled, his long, lithe body commanding attention as he held a small remote control like device in his hand.

Then, in a blast, half of the school was torn apart at the seams. There were dismayed screams and cries emanating from what was the other half of the school.

Dib finally snapped out of it, already hearing sirens and cops, echoes of voices, screams. He slammed his desk so hard against the wall it splintered and cracked.

"What... the hell do you think you are DOING!" He growled, walking heatedly over to Zim.

"Giving us our final battle, sweet." Zim's cold fingers caressed along Dib's cheek, trailing to his hair. He yanked it to pull Dib closer, sending Dib in chills and anticipation.

"You want some recognition? Its yours... catch me!" Zim laughed and twirled around, activating his spider pak legs, moving upward, smashing through tons of solid cement and brick.

Dib was so in shock, he almost fainted right then.

_'This is all a game to him, isn't_ _it?'_

Dib, frantic and wide eyed, leapt out of the massive hole from the right side of him and ran like a bat out of hell.

Soon, his legs were on autopilot and they were clenching and burning.

A massive explosion followed.

But all Dib could hear was Zim's crazed screams of laughter.


	3. Where the two Collide

Within moments, Dib descended from the grassy hill, miles away from his apartment. He was air, nothing but light and sound.

Several moments later, Dib realized he could not breath. His vision blurred and his insides choked and twisted.

But the glow eventually dimmed and his breathing became normal. He was incredibly exhausted, and though he was strangely aware this was going to happen, it completely alluded him as to what was r_eally_ going on.

A flash of green tore through his tired eyes and was met with a most disturbing grin.

"No need for formalities, Dib." His lithe alien tongue slithered over dry lips. "No more reason to keep _us_ apart."

Dib need not think, for it was overridden by a huge manic grin that seemed to _never _die. They're bodies were several feet away, but it seemed as though they were inches apart. Zim had that affect.

"Where am I?" Dib shook his head and tried to determine whether he was dreaming or not.

"Zim?"

Zim's antennae quirked and the alien noticeably brightened.

Dib heard no reply. "Oh my... holy... shit.." Not a dream.

The young man muttered, his eyes shifty and fuming. "What the hell is this!"

Zim frowned for a moment, then kept his face neutral. "You, my dearest, know more than you say you do."

A huge, wild grin. A finger wraps around a stray hair, pulling tighter and tighter in a slow manner. A nervous habit Dib had.

"What did you do now Zim!" Dib growled, pulling his hair so tight he clenched his teeth. "And don't play games with me!"

A nervous titter. "I... well, I..." his tongue slipped over his lower lip. "I showed a couple of fat chewing puppets how they act with_ou_t their strings." Zim tittered again, jumping up and down on the balls of his feet, the very idea exciting him. "Do you believe justice is quantifiable? Do you think there is a limit to what justice is, and how it can be carried out?"

Dib recognized this speech pattern, sort of edgy and never finishing a complete thought, but for some fucked up reason, it all came together. Zim was starting to get like this before he left earth. It was so much worse now, and by worse, he meant. Crazier.

His whole body ached and his heart was twisting and pounding.

He never felt more alive in his life.

"Well," Zim looked out the foggy window, smudged with mud and red blotches. "Lovely view, eh?" The slithering voice seemed to be choking Dib. Zim growled, tired of silence and questions.

"Think of it this way, you stinky, horrible human creature of mine."

"I don't bel--" Dib's voice was snatched away.

"Yes! Finally a response! Oh, my dear, dear, _dear_. I'm so happy you're here. You must know all of this. _Listen_!" Zim's usually falsetto pitch raised a few notches and grew raspy and deep at the last word.

Dib felt winded but still tried to speak. "Let me finish my response before yo--" A coughing fit. "You throw a party."

"I've come to a complete understanding." Zim gasped out passionately, his eyes dreamy. "You have protected the majority of insignifantants for the minority of what is, in your opinion, the good of the world. I see your reasoning, and I understand your need for acknowledgement. I understand _you_. Its no longer needed, Dib-stink, this protection."

Zim twirled around in little circles. "They were going to take me away from you. So I showed them how easy it is to break someones spirit, like they did to me. I showed them how self indulgent over confident bastards fall the hardest. They were all worthless to me. As is my, well, mission. But I knew this a long time ago. Was waiting for the opportune moment."

Dib looked at him, about ready to say something. There was an understanding. Dib let go of his hair.

"Yes!" Zim jumped up and down. "You see!"

Dib's eyes widened as his mouth few slightly open.

"Do you remember before I left?" Zim said with a horrible glaze in his eyes.

"You were insane Zim! Why did you do that? Why did you take off your disguise?" Dib never did figure this out, and to this day, it haunted him. That one defining moment. "Kill all those..." Dib's mind flashed horrific images, stopping his sentence.

Zim cackled. "Isn't it obvious? I wanted everyone to know. It was just, well, boring. I was tired of our games, and I was tired of this melodrama we put on. I became unclouded. No more masks." He wiggled his fingers around his face.

"You challenged me to catch you in front of everyone! You told me that whoever dies would be because of me! I was hated."

"No, you weren't. Everyone looked to you. And you almost never failed them. I know I'm a wanted alien... and that's how I wanted it. I wanted you to catch me. Instead, you thought you defeated me, but I saw... we both knew it was a ploy. You're smarter than you look, ya know."

Dib thought this through so many times before now, and it made more sense than anything else he thought of. "You wanted time to... take care of other things...?" Zim nodded slowly.

"Of course! I did this for me, and well, uh, you. Just a change of pace, is all. It's neither win or lose, its perfect."

"Look, I'm fucking exhausted," Dib said conversationally, his thoughts swarming with half-epiphanies and conclusions he just wasn't ready to sort out yet. He gasped slightly as his hand met cold metal, trying to raise his body in a more comfortable position. "Tell me why I'm here. What's the point. I don't see--" Dib stopped talking, feeling a dizzy spell overtake his body, sliding down to the cool floor of the ship. He coughed again.

"What do you not see? I destroyed an entire enemy race. What you wanted to do. How have you been treated since I've left?"

Dib smiled slightly. Life had been better. "Much... better. But... Zim! Where does this leave me? What's the point?"

Zim's eyes widened and then lowered into little slits. Dib saw in the bright light, that there were discolored scars along his face.

"There's no point to any of this. I just wanted to see you, uh, smile." Zim sideways smirked and winked, knowing full well of the outraged outburst coming next. But it didn't come.

_'Zim's gonna kill me, I know he is.' _A paranoid thought said in a foreign voice in Dib's head.

"But then again, I might have something up my sleeeve!" He winked again, or maybe it was just a twitch. Each word presented a different expression for every sentence. Contemplative, mirthful, then serious.

Zim took a few steps toward the other. Dib unconsciously held his breath. "You know full well I don't care about plans anymore. It was never any fun." A slide of the tongue, across the lips.

When they fought in the past, lines were clear. Clear as crystal. Now, like a caped crime fighter, Dib was hiding under the mask he so well wore. And Zim, grotesque and bloody, smiling and trembling and laughing, wore no mask. Not even his disguise.

Now, Dib was not sure of anything Zim wanted anymore.

And that, that seemed to be more exciting than anything he had ever encountered in his life.

"So, Dib, darling," Zim took several languid steps toward Dib. "Come with me? We shall leave this worthless place, and all of its worthless pretenses and formalities, masks and human garbage."

Dib for the slightest of seconds, wanted more than anything to tear that grin off his face. It drove him mad.

But the thought was driven away when those _mad_dening, gorgeous eyes looked into his own. They said.

We are the same.

_A twitch or an endearment? (_I understand _you._)

_Pulling tighter and _**tighter**_..._

Zim's smile suddenly seemed more human.

Suddenly, nothing seemed to glow more than that hand, reaching for Dib's.

Suddenly_, nirvana was _**everywhere.**


End file.
